Monthly Archives August 2014

On Tuesday 15 July over 100 head teachers, subject leaders and governors from schools in and around North Somerset attended the Learning Exchange organised ‘Better Mathematics HMI Conference’. The conference was delivered by Ofsted’s National Lead for Mathematics, Jane Jones. Jane delivered sessions looking at national findings, improvement planning, improving teaching, lesson observations and more. Jane’s vast knowledge of the subject area ensured there were lots of best practice, ideas and tips for delegates to take away and use in their schools. Delegates really valued Jane’s knowledge and the opportunity to discuss mathematics provision with colleagues. The comments below areRead More

The Better English HMI Conference took place on Tuesday 8 July. It provided a unique opportunity for headteachers, subject leads and governors to get together, hear new ideas on how to promote better teaching and learning in English, and discuss how best to implement those ideas in their schools. The conference was led by Ofsted’s National Lead for English, Patricia Metham. Throughout the day Patricia led sessions on speaking, listening, reading, writing and more. She drew on her vast experience to provide lots of useful advice, tips and best practice. Over 80 delegates took part and feedback was overwhelmingly positive,Read More

As a Head of Faculty your team and you have survived the year of Ofsted revisions and ever rising expectations. The summer is a good time for thinking, questioning ,planning and researching. It gives you an opportunity to make some time to start surveying the landscape, reviewing what went well, and working out what could have been better in order to prepare for the coming academic year. I find the keep, stop, grow model a useful approach. Identify what your faculty will keep and what it will stop. This process enables space to be created for growing changes and innovation. So how has was last year? WhatRead More

The start of term looms close and whilst you may be enjoying the last few days of rest and relaxation, your mind may have begun to wander to the introduction of the new national curriculum and all the changes that this will bring. Over the summer break colleagues in the Learning Exchange have been working hard to develop the content of four new courses for teachers, NQTs and teaching assistants. These sessions have been created to inform you of the requirements of the new curriculum, with a particular focus on helping develop your confidence in teaching children to have aRead More

The document summary service section contains information shared to us by Bristol University. All of the documents they have shared are available for download by members. July 2014 Part 1 – Policy Guidance, Key Reports and Updates Alternative provision: findings from the first interim report This report from Ofsted presents findings about the standard of alternative provision and how effectively schools are using it. Destinations of key stage 4 and key stage 5 students 2011/2012 This report from the DfE provides headline figures about destinations of students in key stages 4 and 5. It includes, for the first time, destinationsRead More